Maine Allows Schools to Swap iPads for Apple Laptops

May 23, 2016

PASS BACK THE IPAD: Back in 2012, Maine made a stir as one of the first states to do a 1:1 iPad rollout—to kindergarteners. Since then the Pine Tree State has purchased more (at a higher cost than other districts, critics say). But many of these devices may be getting returned. Local outlet, Lewiston-Auburn Sun Journal reports that the state education department and Apple are offering schools the opportunity to swap their iPads for Apple laptops at no additional cost.

The decision comes after a survey from the Auburn School Department found that teachers and students in grades 7 to 12 “were overwhelmingly in favor of laptops: 88.5 percent of teachers and 74 percent of students favored them over iPads,” according to the reporter. (The minutes from the meeting are currently not available.) Mike Muir, the state’s Learning and Technology Initiative Director, is quoted as saying that the state “underestimated how different an iPad is from a laptop.”

Maine Allows Schools to Swap iPads for Apple Laptops

May 23, 2016

PASS BACK THE IPAD: Back in 2012, Maine made a stir as one of the first states to do a 1:1 iPad rollout—to kindergarteners. Since then the Pine Tree State has purchased more (at a higher cost than other districts, critics say). But many of these devices may be getting returned. Local outlet, Lewiston-Auburn Sun Journal reports that the state education department and Apple are offering schools the opportunity to swap their iPads for Apple laptops at no additional cost.

The decision comes after a survey from the Auburn School Department found that teachers and students in grades 7 to 12 “were overwhelmingly in favor of laptops: 88.5 percent of teachers and 74 percent of students favored them over iPads,” according to the reporter. (The minutes from the meeting are currently not available.) Mike Muir, the state’s Learning and Technology Initiative Director, is quoted as saying that the state “underestimated how different an iPad is from a laptop.”